The Blog of Ramblings, Grumblings,Stumblings, Comics, and Opinions, Both Informed and Uninformed.

Monday, September 21, 2009

My 72 Hours in Seattle Part I

When I landed in Seattle, it had started raining. Great, That's the question everyone asks when it comes to Seattle. "Does it rain a lot in Seattle?"

The trip into town revealed the new light rail system Seattle set up in the years since I left. It was a decade and more in the making and it looks pretty good. It certainly goes a long way to giving people a direct route to the airport from downtown.

My first stop was to the Caffe Ladro. It was my daily routine to walk down from my apartment and have my daily mocha fix. You see, in Seattle it's not all about Starbucks. As a matter of fact most discriminating Seattlites will never set foot in a Starbucks. There are many alternatives. Unlike with Wal-Mart, When Starbucks opened all over the place it didn't put people out of business, it inspired many mom and pop operations to open up to sell coffee. It usually has better prices than Starbucks and usually tastes better. Caffe Ladro is one of the best if not THE best in Seattle.

The summer seemed cruel to Seattle, the grass and the leaves were brown. Still, Seattle looks great. Not one person in Caffe Ladro was familiar, which is to be expected after 4 years, But many of the people working there when I left were there for more than 4 years.

I wandered around near the Space Needle looking for a hotel for less than a hundred dollars a night. I found one in the Travelodge. It was one of the 4 story hotel types built in the early 60's. I liked it. It had a great bed and was kitschy enough to satisfy me. I bought a six pack of Fat Tire, a favorite of mine I can't get in Jersey.

After sitting around I decided to see a movie before I met up with a friend I met through Facebook. I went to the Egyptian to see "It Might Get Loud". I liked the movie but was in love with the popcorn I had there. It was sooooo good.

I met up with my facebook friend Bill at a Sake Bar called Sake Nome ran by a friend of Bill's. It's located in Pioneer Square and was a very mellow place that had a Wii set up and plenty of Manga to peruse through. One featured Saki Nome prominently in it. I'm not a sake drinker but I was able to sample quite a few kinds. I had two larger glasses and since I'm not a sake drinker I got quite a bit buzzed.

I enjoyed playing Wii tennis and Wii bowling with all those who were there. I was glad Bill suggested this because it was exactly the type of thing I would not think of doing on my own. so, if you like sake and are in Seattle. Stop by at Sake Nome near the Alaskan Viaduct.

But the real reason I came to Seattle was to meet up with my karaoke friends at Ozzie's. When I moved away from Seattle in 2005, many other people had moved away. Most of them are back. Star-Star was one of them. She had moved to Houston and found it not to her liking. Neither did her ex boyfriend Theron who also moved back. It was great to see both of them at Ozzie's. The night was fun but mellow. I had Mac and Jack and Red Hook. It ended with Star giving me a ride and a weird elf like girl who called herself Blueberry.

Now Blueberry is one of those "tragic" girls who shows up at Ozzie's every once in awhile. They tell their life story mixed in with a bit of hyperbole. It's fun wondering what part of it is true. Blueberry was all over the map with her stories and her mood swings. It can be fun for a bit but I'm always leery of getting too much of it. She was dropped off first and I was dropped off second. The funny thing is that I had the best sense of direction where everything was, despite my absence.